Virginia Battles North Carolina Saturday Night

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (16-7, 7-5 ACC) travels to North Carolina (10-14, 3-10 ACC) in ACC action Saturday (Feb. 15). Tipoff at Dean E. Smith Center is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN.
 
For Openers
• UVA (8-5) is fourth in the ACC, while North Carolina (3-10) is 15th.
• Virginia has a five-game winning streak against the Tar Heels and seeks its first two-game regular season sweep of UNC since 2001-02.
• UVA’s 50-49 overtime win vs. Notre Dame marked the lowest scoring overtime win in ACC history in the shot clock era (since 1986).
• UVA and UNC meet as unranked teams for the first time since Jan. 20, 2014.
 • Mamadi Diakite, Cincinnati’s Trevon Scott and Michigan’s Jon Teske are NCAA Division I men’s college basketball’s active career wins leaders with 104.
 
Broadcast Information
• The Virginia-North Carolina game will be televised on ESPN and streamed live on WatchESPN.com and ESPN app.
• The game will also be broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Sports app.
• Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.
 
The Head Coach
• Three-time National and four-time ACC Coach of the Year Tony Bennett has a 270-96 (.738) mark in 11 seasons at Virginia and 339-129 (.724) career mark in 14 seasons.
• In 2018-19, Bennett led the Cavaliers to their first NCAA national championship, a share of their ninth ACC regular-season title and school-record 35 wins.
• UVA is 129-58 (.690) in ACC play, 154-29 (.842) at home and 141-38 (.788) in non-conference action (79-7 at JPJ) under Bennett.
• Bennett ranks fifth all-time in winning percentage at .690, among ACC head coaches with 100 or more ACC regular-season wins.
 
All-Time vs. North Carolina
• UVA is 58-131 all-time vs. UNC in the series that began in 1910-11.
• UVA is 8-66 all-time against the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, including a 5-24 mark at Smith Center.
• The Cavaliers have won seven of the last eight regular-season meetings between the teams, including a 56-47 decision on Dec. 8, 2019.
• UVA has won two of the last three meetings at Smith Center, including a 69-61 win last season.
• UVA is 7-3 against UNC in its last 10 games against North Carolina.
• Tony Bennett is 10-8 all-time vs. North Carolina, including a loss as head coach of Washington State in the 2008 NCAA Sweet 16.
 
Last Time vs. the Tar Heels
• Francisco Caffaro had 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench to lead then-No. 5 Virginia to a 56-47 win over then-No. 7 North Carolina on Dec. 8.
• Mamadi Diakite added 12 points and Tomas Woldetensae chipped in 11 as UVA held its seven opponent to fewer than 50 points.
• UVA outrebounded the Tar Heels 37-32.
• The Cavaliers held North Carolina to 37 percent shooting, including a 1 of 14 effort from 3-point range.
• UVA owned a 25-10 advantage in bench points.
 
UVA in the National Rankings
• As of Feb. 13, Virginia ranks first in the nation in scoring defense (51.6) and field goal percentage defense (36.1), fifth in fewest fouls (311) and personal fouls per game (13.5) and 20th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.1).
 
UVA Receives Votes in National Polls
• UVA received votes in the latest AP poll.
• UVA, which has been unranked in five straight polls, was unranked in the Jan. 13 AP poll for the first time since Nov. 20, 2017, ending its streak at 46 straight weeks in the national polls.
 
Holding Foes Under 50
• UVA is 11-0 when limiting opponents to fewer than 50 points.
• UVA is 98-2 when achieving the mark in the Tony Bennett era.
• Bennett-coached teams are 123-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 50 points (25-1 in three years at Washington State).
• UVA is 4-0 when limiting opponents to fewer than 40 points (27-0 all-time under Bennett).
• UVA has three wins when scoring fewer than 50 points for the first time since 1981-82 (Maryland and NC State twice).
• The Cavaliers have held the Tar Heels to fewer than 50 points in three of the last five meetings between the teams.
 
Last Time Out
• Mamadi Diakite scored a game-high 20 points to lead Virginia to a 50-49 overtime win against Notre Dame on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
• Diakite buried a game-tying jump shot with 25.3 seconds to tie the game at 47-47, and UVA outscored Notre Dame 3-2 in overtime to gain its four win when scoring 50 or fewer points.
• Jay Huff chipped in eight points and nine rebounds, and Kihei Clark scored nine points.
• Braxton Key snared a career-high 13 rebounds.
• Prentiss Hubb led three Fighting Irish in double figures with 12 points.
• UVA shot 37.3 percent from the field, outrebounded the Irish 42-34 and scored 24 of its 50 points in the paint.
 
On The Horizon
• Virginia hosts Boston College Wednesday, Feb. 19. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 8 p.m. on ACCN.